NSSF: Olbermann’s Major League Gun-Rights Foul

He should have more respect for the Constitution. The First Amendment protects his right to be an idiot.

This morning, the National Shooting Sports Foundation‘s Larry Keane has some color commentary to go alongside Keith Olbermann’s recent gun-rights gaffe. What has everyone’s least favorite hoplophobe been up to, and why should he have stuck to sportscasting? Keane’s got the details (and some pretty good laughs)!

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By Larry Keane

Ride the pine. Relegated to the minors. Missed the cut. All of the above. Former sportscaster turned failed progressive political mouthpiece Keith Olbermann took a swing at what the Second Amendment says and means and whiffed so badly he created a wind advisory.

Before last week’s Major League Baseball All-Star game, police arrested four individuals who brought firearms into a Denver hotel nearby, suspecting the possibility of a tragedy during the game. Olbermann, no stranger to moronic Twitter takes, pounced and posted a video to his Twitter account saying with no evidence an All-Star game tragedy was averted. He attempted to mock gun owners and their supporters by posing the question, “Consider again the holy Second Amendment to the Constitution and ask yourself this question. Why doesn’t the 2nd Amendment have the word ‘own’ in it? Why does it not say the right to own guns or a synonym for own?”

The FBI subsequently said there was no All-Star game plot. Olbermann should stick to sports, but that roster’s already full.

Step Into the Swing

It could be said for all the flaws contained in Olbermann’s rant, he’s not wrong. The word “own” doesn’t appear in the Second Amendment. The words “keep and bear arms” are there, however, enshrining the unalienable right of Americans to possess firearms – no ifs, ands or buts about it. Olbermann doesn’t have to look far to find the U.S. Supreme Court recognizing and upholding that right.

2008’s landmark Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, removes any doubt. The decision explains the Second Amendment enshrines a pre-existing individual right to keep and bear arms. This right is pre-existing, and yes, in order to keep something, it must be owned.

Bearing Arms’ Cam Edwards caught sight of Olbermann’s tweet and had a field day. “The FBI said that there is no evidence of a mass shooting plot connected to these arrests, and Scalia addressed the inane argument about ‘keep’ vs. ‘own’ in the Heller decision. Starts about halfway down on page 7. Go try to save a dog instead of peddling this nonsense.”

Double Play

Edwards wasn’t the only one calling foul on Olbermann. The Reload’s Stephen Gutowski went to bat against Olbermann’s logic. “The right of the people to keep and bear arms” doesn’t refer to people owning guns. Instead, it refers to regulation of state militias? This is the argument you bellowed out with such confidence and condescension?”

Bearing Arms’ Tom Knighton did so too, observing, “This is the dumbest argument I’ve heard since people tried to say the Second Amendment only applied to muskets.”

Chris Loesch, Dana Loesch’s husband and a Second Amendment advocate, chimed in. “This is one of the most idiotic things I have ever listened to. I mean it’s utterly moronic.” There were plenty of additional responses stuffing Olbermann in his locker.

Call Up Relief

Olbermann might fit, but recent polling shows Olbermann is out in left field. Since Olbmann’s a statistics guy, here are some interesting numbers. Gallup shows support among Americans for more gun control has dropped by at least 10 points to the lowest levels in years. That includes more than five percentage points lower among self-described Democrats. Washington Post/ABC News polling shows similar trends.

These surveys align with what’s going on now. Americans in historic numbers have purchased (that’s “own” for Olbermann if he’s reading this) firearms in record numbers over the past 18 months, and are continuing.

Talking heads like Olbermann can keep barking from the cheap seats about firearms and their flawed and utterly discredited understanding of the Second Amendment. If Olbermann were to ever take a minute to stop adoring himself on Twitter, he’d see that the game changed and the bases aren’t the only thing that’s loaded.

Americans won’t stand for it and may send them back to the minors.  Maybe Olbermann should be sacked for this egregious error. Wait, I’m wildly mixing my sports metaphors. How about Twitter just censor him for spreading misinformation?